Your Yard: How to save your shrubs after the ravages of winter

Tree Triage

By Laurie Lynn Fischer

Battlefield medics and emergency room nurses assess who needs immediate attention, who can wait, and who is beyond saving. It’s the same with the plants in our yards.

During a harsh winter, like the last one, our gardens endure wind, ice, heavy snow, temperature extremes and hungry critters. Trees, shrubs and perennials don’t always live to see another spring. But how do you know whether to administer first aid or last rites?

Know What You Have
Start by learning the names, habits and requirements of the plants on your property. “It’s critical to know what it is you’re dealing with,” says master gardener Terri Eastwood, owner of The Plant Keeper gardening services (theplantkeeper.com). “It’s probably best to see signs of growth before you do anything.”

Paul Steinkamp of Helderledge Farms tells of renters who felled a venerable larch tree, thinking it was dead. Little did they know that larches lose their needles, just as other trees lose their leaves.

Homeowners have been known to chop down Rose of Sharon bushes, thinking they’ve perished, when actually these flowering shrubs leaf out late, says Sue Pezzolla, a horticulture educator with the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Albany County. “All plants have different timetables,” she says. “Give it a few more weeks. If you don’t see leaves, try bending some of the branches. If there’s flexibility, that indicates that things are still good internally. If it snaps off and it’s brittle, that’s an indication that it’s dead.”

When It Grows, Damage Shows
Harm to perennials and shrubs becomes evident as they awaken. Prune out the dead sections using high-end, sharp, single bladed shears. Cut cleanly back to healthy tissue, toward the growing plant, preferably slanting down from a vigorous bud. New shoots tend to grow in the same direction as the bud.

Popular varieties such as azaleas, rhododendrons and yews are great regenerators. Like movie monsters, they look lousy and then come back with a vengeance.

Cut It OutIf a limb is broken, amputate it before the tree leafs out. Saw cleanly back to a junction with a strong bud and avoid removing leading branches. If a limb needs to be severed completely, don’t cut it flush with the trunk. Leave a quarter inch stub where the branch and trunk meet.

Painting the scar is unnecessary. To heal particularly bad wounds, you may need to tack on patches called bridge grafts and wrap them in grafting paper. This operation is not for the faint of heart.

For tricky jobs like this or major limb repairs, you’re safest contacting professionals. Make sure they have both liability and compensation insurance, says Gerdie Zanghi of A+ Trees ‘R’ Us (aplustreesrus.com). “It’s dangerous to cut your own tree,” she says. “Many people get hurt trying to do it themselves.”

Ropes and limbs may be rotten and snap, although they look just fine, she says. Nails or wire fencing that are hidden in the bark can make chain saws kick back, causing injury. Limbs can fall differently than you expect and could hit power lines, she adds.

However, the deeper the snow, the higher the deer and rabbits can reach. When it melts, you may see a system of rodent tunnels leading to tender vegetation.

Critters might have gobbled everything from bark to buds, unless you’ve wrapped the trunk with plastic or waxed paper, enclosed the plant with netting, or religiously reapplied repellant.

If only one side was nibbled, it should mend. If they’ve chomped most or all the way around, it will likely die. You can salvage special specimens by cutting back to the roots, but they take years to recover.

(Photo by Janet Reynolds/Life@Home)

Weighty Matter
Heavy snow and ice can overwhelm bushes such as junipers and yews, wrecking their shape. Ideally, you should relieve them of their burden and protect foundation plantings with A-frames.

Come spring, if snow and ice have splayed the top of your arborvitae, use cloth or burlap strips to tie the stems together, and they’ll regrow into a pyramid shape, says Peter Bowden, spokesman for Hewitt’s Nurseries.

Running Hot And Cold
As seasons change, it’s often hot by day and cold at night. Repeated freezing and thawing can heave recent nursery transplants right out of the ground, since artificial potting soil differs from surrounding dirt.

If the roots aren’t badly torn and these pop-ups are still alive, you can replant them. Dissolving a spoonful of dish soap in the watering helps break down the artificial soil until they get established, Steinkamp says.

Temperature swings can rupture cells, leaving a scorched streak, usually on the eastern side of a tree or shrub. This can take years to heal. To moderate the extremes, shade plants from the sun by mulching in spring and fall with straw, bark or evergreen boughs.

Seasonal Seasoning
Salt spray from snow plows will kill evergreen needles. Too much damage, and you can write off your tree. The same goes with your lawn. Rock salt may save humans and vehicles from slipping, but you’ll need to reseed the grass alongside the road and your front walk, Bowden says.

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
Deciduous plants, which drop their leaves, fare better than conifers in winter. Wind dries evergreen needles. If they’re horribly burnt, the tree might need replacement. Otherwise, snip out the unsightly brown parts and hydrate your trees before winter. “The rule of thumb is plants need an inch of water a week in fall,” Pezzano says. “If Mother Nature doesn’t supply it, the gardener needs to do it, right up until the ground freezes.”